Explore traditional Confucian texts with dual-language presentations and scholarly tools. Features include original Chinese verses alongside English translations, sentence-level parsing for learning Classical Chinese, and a full-screen reader for an optimal reading experience.
1.8
July 31, 2026
No new verses this month. Instead we have a host of improvements and new features: • “Chinese First” Language Display: Redesigned as a large-character edition for learners. • Refined Glosses: Glosses app-wide are polished and updated with [helper words] in brackets for better readability. • Swipe to Verse: Open a chapter, then swipe left or right to move through verses! • Indexes and Search: Previews now show the whole target sentence for better context. • Encyclopedia Daoxue: Browse all 185 entries as books. Go to Settings: Display. • Bug Fixes and Stability: A code audit of all 22,000 lines produced over 100 small improvements throughout the app. Most of these require the Scholar Pack. However, “Swipe to Verse” is a big navigation improvement for all.
More$3.99
Scholar Pack
Includes traditional commentaries and advanced tools.
The Four Books are the Great Learning, the Discourses (or Analects), the Book of Mengzi, and the Doctrine of the Mean, presented in this app. Book One is complete, with new verses arriving monthly.
No, Four Books is ad-free. The app also does not require account creation or collect user data, ensuring a private and uninterrupted reading experience.
The free content includes 284 influential ancient verses, English translation, and basic encyclopedia access. English search functionality is also available for free.
The Scholar Pack is a one-time in-app purchase that unlocks all premium content, including the complete 804 verses, Classical Chinese text, traditional commentary, sentence-level parsing, and complete encyclopedia. Future content updates are included free.
New verses arrive in the app around the first of each month. The latest version is 1.3, last updated on March 4, 2026, indicating a commitment to regular content delivery and refinement.
Four Books is optimized for Apple devices, including iPhone and iPad. It is designed for iOS 26 with a fallback for iOS 18.
Yes, Four Books offers a dual-language presentation with original Chinese verses alongside English translations. A "sentence mode" toggle parses the language pairs line by line, aiding in learning Classical Chinese.
The app has a perfect rating of 5.0 stars from 3 ratings, suggesting very positive user sentiment among its current users.
